I am not going to dwell on the DX50 "CODECgate" but I do want to quickly report on the subjective conclusions of my experimenting last week. In particular, I owe a shoutout to GoldfishX as I butted heads with him on this but my view has changed.

I spent all last week going back and forth between 1.2.2 and 1.2.7 with some detours to other firmware versions. The end result (for now) is that I am listening to... 1.2.6. I find it to have the most natural rendering of the soundstage, both to my preference and also in similarity to other DAC sources. To the extent that a CODEC can be deemed correct, I find 1.2.6 to be the one. (Note that I am listening to Lame 320kbps CBR MP3s; it is possible that different conclusions would be reached for other CODECs.) Overall I am finding, again subjectively, that this translates into the best SQ to my ears from 1.2.6.

So I am crossfade guy for now and I can live with that. It is a bit annoying how it cuts the last 5 seconds from the last song an an album but this is life.

To be clear, my DX50 > Pico Power > Heaven VI is sounding spectacular. My enthusiasm is renewed every time that I plug in. Neither 1.2.2 nor 1.2.7 was giving me this level of satisfaction and so it is 1.2.6 and music bliss for me.

As I said I will not dwell on this issue. I do hope though that iBasso will adopt mature CODECs for future firmware releases rather than the random variations of the experimental daily updates that they are apparently using. That would just be good practice, both to benefit its loyal customers and also for the DX50's positioning in a competitive DAP market. It would also mean that I could look forward to getting my gapless playback back.

I am not going to dwell on the DX50 "CODECgate" but I do want to quickly report on the subjective conclusions of my experimenting last week. In particular, I owe a shoutout to GoldfishX as I butted heads with him on this but my view has changed.

I spent all last week going back and forth between 1.2.2 and 1.2.7 with some detours to other firmware versions. The end result (for now) is that I am listening to... 1.2.6. I find it to have the most natural rendering of the soundstage, both to my preference and also in similarity to other DAC sources. To the extent that a CODEC can be deemed correct, I find 1.2.6 to be the one. (Note that I am listening to Lame 320kbps CBR MP3s; it is possible that different conclusions would be reached for other CODECs.) Overall I am finding, again subjectively, that this translates into the best SQ to my ears from 1.2.6.

So I am crossfade guy for now and I can live with that. It is a bit annoying how it cuts the last 5 seconds from the last song an an album but this is life.

To be clear, my DX50 > Pico Power > Heaven VI is sounding spectacular. My enthusiasm is renewed every time that I plug in. Neither 1.2.2 nor 1.2.7 was giving me this level of satisfaction and so it is 1.2.6 and music bliss for me.

As I said I will not dwell on this issue. I do hope though that iBasso will adopt mature CODECs for future firmware releases rather than the random variations of the experimental daily updates that they are apparently using. That would just be good practice, both to benefit its loyal customers and also for the DX50's positioning in a competitive DAP market. It would also mean that I could look forward to getting my gapless playback back.

Lol, I was doing the same thing from 1.2.7 I went back to 1.2.2. There is a clear difference at least on sound stage. 1.2.2 being wider. I'm giving it a few more days then I'll switch to 1.2.5. I remember doing extensive comparison before between 1.2.2 and 1.2.5 and I really favored 1.2.5 back then. Let's see if I will have the same impression.

But I don't think I can go back to 1.2.6. The cross fade really bothers/annoys me. 80% of my songs are affected by it.

It is a model 1030. I posted a few pages back if you are not interested in storing your dap and 'phones together, the 1010 fits the dx50 perfectly with room for an amp also. I prefer to carry mine separately so if one get stolen/lost, I'm not out all my gear. I'm kinda paranoid like that sometimes though.

It is a model 1030. I posted a few pages back if you are not interested in storing your dap and 'phones together, the 1010 fits the dx50 perfectly with room for an amp also. I prefer to carry mine separately so if one get stolen/lost, I'm not out all my gear. I'm kinda paranoid like that sometimes though.

I read that the DX100 is similar. I was prepared for this. Both a blessing and a curse, I suppose. But if I were dealing with this on an $800+ machine, I'd be a little irked. DX50 is cheap enough that I can deal with the inconveniences.

While I suspect it would be difficult for you, a gentler touch will resolve the issue.

If anything, I have the opposite issue with touchscreens/pads as I naturally use very little pressure. If adjustable, I turn the sensitivity as high as possible.

I have no problems with unwanted screen response on the DX50, and occassionally need to select a choice a second time.

Actually I have a very soft touch, just big hands. I am getting better at it, but a slightly larger scroll bar might help. Other than the sensitive screen I like the UI, it is more intuitive than the Fiio x3, and the now deceased HM-602 I owned. I am very happy with the sq as well, some users are not happy with fw 1.2.7. At first I did not like the change in the sq, but after a few days of listening it grew on me. Now I think I am going to do some rolling of op-amps and buffers in the PB2, I like the current sq but I just can't help myself.